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Sprint Cup
SPENCER: The No. 2’s To Lose
Brad Keselowski needs to stay aggressive and not go into conservation mode in these final six races...
Don’t look now but I think the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship is Brad Keselowski’s to lose at the moment.
Not only is he running extremely well, Lady Luck also has been fairly good to him. There is no denying a certain amount of good luck is necessary to win a championship, or at the very least, the absence of bad luck.
At Dover, Keselowski was pretty lucky to get the win and gain a few points, and he also managed to avoid the monster pileup triggered by Tony Stewart Sunday at Talladega, and increase his points lead on Jimmie Johnson. In fact, if Keselowski wins the Cup championship this year, he better thank Stewart in his acceptance speech in Las Vegas because Smoke really helped him put a big gap on some of the competition. There is no doubt the Penske Racing driver has led a charmed life the past couple of weeks. And if history is any indication, that may continue.
Keselowski now is 14 points ahead of Johnson and 23 ahead of third-place Denny Hamlin. That is a pretty comfortable points lead if he can just maintain it, and we are coming up on some of Bad Brad’s best tracks. The only driver running as well as Keselowski is Jeff Gordon, but due to a hung throttle at Chicago, Gordon stands no chance of giving Keselowski a run for his money in the championship if the guys at the top don’t have some major trouble.
But the No. 2 driver needs to stay aggressive and not go into conservation mode in these final six races. That approach has bitten a few drivers in the championship run in recent years. Denny Hamlin got in conservative mode in 2010 and Johnson kicked his ass. I think Carl Edwards tended to be too conservative in the closing races last season, and Stewart pounced on him. If Keselowski follows their lead, then he shouldn’t be surprised when someone snatches the lead from him.
Matt Kenseth didn’t let anyone take the lead from him Sunday when the melee broke out at the end of the race, and he held on for the win. But other than him and maybe a few others, we didn’t hear too many drivers speak too favorably of plate racing after Talladega.
I personally thought it was a hell of a race and don’t think NASCAR should change a single thing about restrictor-plate racing at this point. If Stewart hadn’t made that wrong move, we might be having a different conversation, one about all the racing on that last lap and the last-second lead changes instead of the “Big One.”
That was one of the best plate races I’ve ever seen, and the drivers managed to go about 499 miles without a huge accident, an accident that was the reigning champion’s fault. It’s a driver’s fault 99-percent of the time when we see a pileup like that, and Stewart admitted that one was all on him.
Wrecks or not, I always loved Daytona and Talladega because they required so much attentiveness, planning and thinking. You learned as the race progressed who you needed to draft with and where you needed to be as the laps wound down.
But for everyone who now is saying they don’t want to race there anymore, I’ll be the first one to volunteer to take their seat (if I can fit in it). Plate racing is part of the job, and if they don’t like it, they can start the race, get a few points and pull in and park their car. I know it’s frustrating, but it’s just part of the deal.
Kurt Busch certainly seemed frustrated with the way his day went Sunday at Talladega. But what he did in driving off with the safety workers tending to him and his car was 100-percent wrong. The window net was down and they were talking to him; one safety worker even had his hands on the car and was leaning in. Busch put their safety in danger by driving off, and he deserves to be suspended for a week for disrespecting and jeopardizing them.
I don’t care if it was Kurt or Jeff Gordon – any driver who drives off and completely disrespects the men and women there to take care of them should be sat down until they learn to respect what these folks are there to do. Some fans and media have been hinting lately that Kurt has begun to change and improve on his faults, but the guy still has a problem that he needs to address.
He should count himself fortunate that Bill France isn’t still around because Bill would have sat his ass out for so long it would have made his head spin. He’d put Kurt front and center at the track and make him watch his car go around in circles for a few races. Bill taught me, Dale Earnhardt and lots of others some valuable lessons. He told us that we have to build something in NASCAR that will continue long after any of us drivers are gone. We quickly learned that we need the sport more than it needs us.
I’m afraid Kurt still is learning that lesson, but for his sake and the sake of those around him, I hope he gets it down pat pretty soon.
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
Not only is he running extremely well, Lady Luck also has been fairly good to him. There is no denying a certain amount of good luck is necessary to win a championship, or at the very least, the absence of bad luck.
At Dover, Keselowski was pretty lucky to get the win and gain a few points, and he also managed to avoid the monster pileup triggered by Tony Stewart Sunday at Talladega, and increase his points lead on Jimmie Johnson. In fact, if Keselowski wins the Cup championship this year, he better thank Stewart in his acceptance speech in Las Vegas because Smoke really helped him put a big gap on some of the competition. There is no doubt the Penske Racing driver has led a charmed life the past couple of weeks. And if history is any indication, that may continue.
Keselowski now is 14 points ahead of Johnson and 23 ahead of third-place Denny Hamlin. That is a pretty comfortable points lead if he can just maintain it, and we are coming up on some of Bad Brad’s best tracks. The only driver running as well as Keselowski is Jeff Gordon, but due to a hung throttle at Chicago, Gordon stands no chance of giving Keselowski a run for his money in the championship if the guys at the top don’t have some major trouble.
But the No. 2 driver needs to stay aggressive and not go into conservation mode in these final six races. That approach has bitten a few drivers in the championship run in recent years. Denny Hamlin got in conservative mode in 2010 and Johnson kicked his ass. I think Carl Edwards tended to be too conservative in the closing races last season, and Stewart pounced on him. If Keselowski follows their lead, then he shouldn’t be surprised when someone snatches the lead from him.
Matt Kenseth didn’t let anyone take the lead from him Sunday when the melee broke out at the end of the race, and he held on for the win. But other than him and maybe a few others, we didn’t hear too many drivers speak too favorably of plate racing after Talladega.
I personally thought it was a hell of a race and don’t think NASCAR should change a single thing about restrictor-plate racing at this point. If Stewart hadn’t made that wrong move, we might be having a different conversation, one about all the racing on that last lap and the last-second lead changes instead of the “Big One.”
That was one of the best plate races I’ve ever seen, and the drivers managed to go about 499 miles without a huge accident, an accident that was the reigning champion’s fault. It’s a driver’s fault 99-percent of the time when we see a pileup like that, and Stewart admitted that one was all on him.
Wrecks or not, I always loved Daytona and Talladega because they required so much attentiveness, planning and thinking. You learned as the race progressed who you needed to draft with and where you needed to be as the laps wound down.
But for everyone who now is saying they don’t want to race there anymore, I’ll be the first one to volunteer to take their seat (if I can fit in it). Plate racing is part of the job, and if they don’t like it, they can start the race, get a few points and pull in and park their car. I know it’s frustrating, but it’s just part of the deal.
Kurt Busch certainly seemed frustrated with the way his day went Sunday at Talladega. But what he did in driving off with the safety workers tending to him and his car was 100-percent wrong. The window net was down and they were talking to him; one safety worker even had his hands on the car and was leaning in. Busch put their safety in danger by driving off, and he deserves to be suspended for a week for disrespecting and jeopardizing them.
I don’t care if it was Kurt or Jeff Gordon – any driver who drives off and completely disrespects the men and women there to take care of them should be sat down until they learn to respect what these folks are there to do. Some fans and media have been hinting lately that Kurt has begun to change and improve on his faults, but the guy still has a problem that he needs to address.
He should count himself fortunate that Bill France isn’t still around because Bill would have sat his ass out for so long it would have made his head spin. He’d put Kurt front and center at the track and make him watch his car go around in circles for a few races. Bill taught me, Dale Earnhardt and lots of others some valuable lessons. He told us that we have to build something in NASCAR that will continue long after any of us drivers are gone. We quickly learned that we need the sport more than it needs us.
I’m afraid Kurt still is learning that lesson, but for his sake and the sake of those around him, I hope he gets it down pat pretty soon.
Jimmy Spencer calls it like he sees it on NASCAR Race Hub on SPEED. He retired from driving with two NASCAR Sprint Cup, 12 NASCAR Nationwide and one NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory, putting him in an elite group of drivers who have logged wins in all three of NASCAR’s premier divisions. In 478 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, Spencer amassed 28 top-five and 80 top-10 finishes. He won back-to-back NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour championships in 1986 and 1987 on the heels of 15 victories, becoming the first driver ever to earn consecutive titles in the series. He earned the nickname “Mr. Excitement” for his flamboyant and aggressive driving style early in his racing career.
The opinions reflected herein are solely those of the above commentator and are not necessarily those of SPEED.com, FOX, NewsCorp, or SPEED
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